by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
Well, July is here. And if you are anything like me, you don’t even start looking for the beach toys until beach season is well underway, and the kids are sitting in their car seats, eager and ready to go. And that’s when you discover that you’ve...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
The night light is an essential component of the bedtime routine around my place, but no matter what method we employ, which lately has been our hallway light, it never seems to satisfy the kids’ need for light right next to them. That’s why I’m...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
We first fell in love with Green Toys way back in the day of the lead paint recalls (aw, remember those fun days?) and knew they were onto something fabulous. Well sure enough, their line has expanded beautifully since then and today they’re doing some super...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Delilah S. Dawson | Baby, Toys + Playthings
Those board books start out so cute and shiny, don’t they? And then Baby Bookivore gets very interested in gnawing the corners, splitting the pages, and seeing what a slice of banana will look like sandwiched between B is for Broccoli and C is for Carrot. But...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Delilah S. Dawson | Toys + Playthings
First I feared the colicky newborn, then the Godzilla walker, then the Terrible Twos. Now I can see the Freaky Fours glaring at me from just a few months away, and I tremble in my flip-flops. She doesn’t want to clean, she doesn’t want to go to bed, and...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
We’ve been fans of the Handmade Toy Alliance since this organization formed in 2008 in response to Congress’s [expletive deleted] Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act. This ill-conceived (and ironically named) law is the impetus for launching our Save...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Mir | Toys + Playthings
This is one of those times when I find myself wishing I owned a sewing machine. And that I had a single crafty bone in my body. Check it out: Gulf Coast Cottage, a wonderful shop filled with soft toys, has an entire category filled with nothing but PDF patterns for...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Christina Refford | Toys + Playthings
I have nothing against boys embracing pink, but when I went to buy a little boy doll for my nephew to love while his mama was caring for a newborn, I found that 99% of the baby dolls in the big toy store were of the female persuasion.France’s Corolle, the maker...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
These so-called “friendly monster finger puppets” bear such a striking resemblance to the Yo Gabba Gabba characters that I had to break down and buy them for my YGG-obsessed daughter’s third birthday.I mean, that striped green one does look a whole...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
The way I see it, if your kids are going to fall in love with colorful shape sorters and battery-operated talking phones anyway–and trust me, they are–they might as well be from a company like b.toys. This small company used to license their designs to the...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Delilah S. Dawson | Toys + Playthings
Memorial Day is here which means goodbye wool, hello breezy, beautiful linen. Even when it comes to your kids’ playthings.Have you ever loved a doll so much that you wanted to hug it? Wait, that’s ridiculous, even for a rhetorical question. Of course you...				
					
			
					
											
								
							
					
															
					
					 by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
When it comes to eating out with my kids, we make sure to go to our favorite family friendly restaurant early in the evening with an arsenal of activities to keep them occupied. Seriously, I think planning a wedding is easier. But thanks to Knock Knock’s fun new...